appleby can see to that as well. in another memo they write, "this is a low risk structure that has been set up low risk structure that has been set up to receive monies due to exequet under the insurance policies on the group aircraft. by having the money is paid into the isle of man entity, exequ et is paid into the isle of man entity, exequet are not required to pay swiss tax on the income of around 2296. swiss tax on the income of around 22%. we expect to receive two payments per year of approximately $600,000." for exequet to get the tax benefits of being based in the isle of man has been managed and controlled from there but there only employs there are the directors appleby provided and it seems switzerland was calling the shots. this e—mailfrom switzerland was calling the shots. this e—mail from head switzerland was calling the shots. this e—mailfrom head of it switzerland was calling the shots. this e—mail from head of it clearly instructs appleby to transfer more than half $1 million to the bank acc

what they wanted appleby to do so that they could set up a structure. that. we wrote to guzzle months for him to request an interview. the company even has a senior manager who's in charge of the technically illegal online gambling operation. agreed to talk to us here in berlin. but it's clear his company has no intention of obeying german laws that forbid online gambling. this is an old allowed to be a ends and we've seen documents that appear to indicate that in november twentieth eleven a senior gazal month employee contacted the appleby law firm and asked for recommendations regarding online gambling octet good stuff off with the soon as. the word stakes seven game holding was registered in the isle of man. since september two thousand and twelve this company has been operating as top gaming europe ltd it runs the stake seven site that features macor games is all that correct as of yet we supply games to third parties and like we do so either directly to license companies or to third party distributors and providers or to so-called aggregator sites

i am speaking on behalf of of appleby and we had no knowledge of appleby and we had no knowledge of appleby and we had no knowledge of apple in this building. apple sales international and apple operations international, you cannot find anybody in the office who knows about that? from an appleby perspective, yes. the answer is we do not know? from an appleby perspective, we have no knowledge of that. thank you very much indeed, thank you for your patience. goodbye. so, after quite a long delay and wake the message came back we do not know about those companies, we cannot find anybody in the office who knows about apple sales international or apple operations international. it is so secret that even the people in the office do not know about it. that is what he is saying. but our documents showed the two apple companies were administered from these offices until last year. now, apple declined to a nswer until last year. now, apple declined to answer our questions but said as the largest taxpayer in the world we have paid over $35 billion in corporate income taxes over the past three years. t

appleby isa secrecy has been breached. appleby is a legal firm that sells offshore services. 7 million of their documents have been leaked. that's the head office. we have to be very careful at this stage of the investigation. because appleby don't know that we have their data. we have been working on the documents for the past year. this march, we were invited to a secret meeting in munich. we don't talk about what we're doing. the documents were leaked to a german newspaper. we don't talk to our friends, ourfamilies, newspaper. we don't talk to our friends, our families, our colleagues. they are sharing the documents with the international consortium of investigative journalists will stop in the uk, that's panorama and the guardian. —— consortium of investigative journalists. . it will be very interesting to the public, because this is information that has never come out before. the leak has been called the paradise papers. secret contracts, agreements and deals that we we re contracts, agreements and deals that we w

what they wanted appleby to do so that they could set up a structure. that. we wrote to guzzle months for him to request an interview. the company even has a senior manager who's in charge of the technically illegal online gambling operation. agreed to talk to us here in berlin. but it's clear his company has no intention of obeying german laws that forbid online gambling. this is an old allowed to be ions in we've seen documents that appear to indicate that in november twentieth eleven a senior gazal month employee contacted the appleby law firm and asked for recommendations regarding online gambling addict it could start off with. soon afterwards take seven game holding was registered in the isle of man. since september two thousand and twelve this company has been operating as top gaming europe ltd it runs the stake seven site that features macor games is all that correct as of yet we supply games to third party and like we do so either directly to license companies or to third party distributors and providers or to so-called aggregator sites on the

what they wanted appleby to do so that they could set up a structure. that. we wrote to guzzle months for him to request an interview. the company even has a senior manager who's in charge of the technically illegal online gambling operation. agreed to talk to us here in berlin. but it's clear his company has no intention of obeying german laws that forbid online gambling. this is an old allow you to be ions in we've seen documents that appear to indicate that in november twentieth eleven a senior gazal month employee contacted the appleby law firm and asked for recommendations regarding online gambling fact it could start off with the soon afterwards take seven game holding was registered in the isle of man. since september two thousand and twelve this company has been operating as top gaming europe ltd it runs the stake seven site that features mikko games is all that correct as a via we supply games to third party like we do so either directly to license companies or to third party distributors and providers or to so-called aggregator sites on the we

you know review of the appleby documents we came across an online casino called stakes seven. online gambling is technically illegal in germany but in reality anyone here can do it on their home computer appleby touts its involvement in the online gambling business gets you know let's see what comes up under gaming machines mera cause even magazine because you america was game over. he states of existence and says here a stake seven made in germany a specific reference to germany to. this online casino is based on the isle of man. you can log on quickly and easily and start playing poker roulette or slot machines is easy to make payments to through german banks. and unconditionally and ok let's try this. kid these days as it had a few there but not enough. as it started with a small bed or you lose your whole stake. in school to something i didn't bet more is i've already lost ten year olds. if that i thought i'd win something. he didn't say i want two year olds fifty. on lying gambling via a casino on the isle of man is illegal. but i don't expect the german authorities to co

appleby helps make it all possible. a boeing seven thirty seven is approaching the ninety million dollar private jet belongs to a billionaire only the pilot and a small crew are on board they've got a brief meeting with the customs authorities we can guess its purpose. the private jet center turns to a very will heal the clientele. its employees tell us that many private jets are registered on the isle of man. the island serves as a gateway to the e.u. with a twist. private jets imported through the island aren't subject to european b a t taxes. it's a scheme that enables the owners to save millions so many am planes. imported to europe and part of why i have often met you how does this come and it's it's the eighteen rates. and i don't know how they compare with all the facilities around europe and brits preferentially deck of them if it were enemies but it accounts yeah fifty eight us yeah so. you can save a lot of tax if you do it by a date so you know. what the value of an aircraft are large aircraft that it's a lot

appleby helps make it all possible. a boeing seven thirty seven is approaching the nineteen million dollar private jet belongs to a billionaire only the pilot and a small crew are on board they've got a brief meeting with the customs authorities we can guess its purpose. the private jet center tends to have very well heeled clientele. its employees tell us that many private jets are registered on the isle of man. the island serves as a gateway to the e.u. with a twist. private jets imported through the island aren't subject to european b a t taxes. it's a scheme that enables the owners to save millions so many and planes. imported to europe and part of why i have often that how does this come and it's it's the eighty weights. and i don't know how they compare with with other facilities around europe and but it's preferential that they have to me if it through ms but in accounts yeah buffy it's human rights yeah so. you can save a lot of tax if you do it by a of an example you know. like the value of an aircraft a large

appleby itself, they cater to high end clients. the panama papers in some regards was passed off as papers in some regards was passed offasa papers in some regards was passed off as a rogue phone that was doing bad things. this is not the same, this is very different, these are high end clients and a high end law firm. it is part of the magic circle of offshore law firms. it is a very different set of data and a very different set of data and a very different set of revelations. that's it from this special programme on the day we saw the first revelations from one of the biggest leaks of offshore financial dealings. i will be back with more reaction in half an hour on the bbc news channel. it has been a cracking autumn day for many of us, chilly but bright. this is how it looked in derbyshire. there have been showers as well, this beautiful rainbow off the coast of north yorkshire. here's the satellite picture from earlier on, extensive sunshine, but shower clouds into the west as well as the north—east. some of those showers wil

appleby helps make it all possible. the boeing seven thirty seven is approaching the nineteen million dollar private jet belongs to a billionaire only the pilot and a small crew are on board they've got a brief meeting with the customs authorities we can guess its purpose. the private jet center tends to have very well heeled clientele. its employees tell us that many private jets are registered on the isle of man. the island serves as a gateway to the e.u. with a twist of private jets imported through the island aren't subject to european b a t taxes. it's a scheme that enables the owners to save millions so many am planes. imported to europe and part of why i have often. how does this come and it's it's the eighty rates. and i don't know how they compare with with other facilities around europe and brits preferential that they have committed that premise but it accounts yeah the fee it's given us yeah so. you can save a lot of tax if you do it by a of an example you know. like the value of an aircraft a large aircraft

the appleby files help us make sense of stakes sevens rather convoluted business structure. at one time the site was registered to the gaza money company. now the site is run by a third party. top gaming europe limited. but goes on month still makes money with illegal online gambling. that's because macro games which operates take seven out of the isle of man collects licensing fees. this is done through an elaborate construction that was designed and implemented by apple. but you won't find this construction in any trade register so we put together this diagram for you there's another layer up here and we found a company behind stakes seven something called sunny. dozen of these the constable who put this complicated scheme together. is an email that shows that one of gals woman's attorneys contacted appleby yeah outlined quite clearly what they wanted applebee to do so that they could set up a structure. that. we wrote to guzzle months for him to request an interview. the company even has a senior manager who's in charge of the technically illegal online gambling operation

appleby helps make it all possible. the boeing seven thirty seven is approaching the nineteen million dollar private jet belongs to a billionaire only the pilot and a small crew are on board they've got a brief meeting with the customs authorities we can guess its purpose. the private jet center tends to have very well heeled clientele. its employees tell us that many private jets are registered on the isle of man. the island serves as a gateway to the e.u. with a twist. private jets imported through the island aren't subject to european b a t taxes. it's a scheme that enables the owners to save millions so many am planes. imported to europe and part of why i have seen that how does this come and it's it's the eighty weights. and i don't know how they compare with other facilities around europe and but it's preferential the day after me if it were a mess but in accounts yeah fifty eight u.s. yeah so. you can save a lot of tax if you do it by a of an example you know. what the value of an aircraft a large aircraft then i

you know review of the appleby documents we came across an online casino called stakes seven. online gambling is technically illegal in germany but in reality anyone here can do it on their home computer appleby touts its involvement in the online gambling business you know let's see what comes up under gaming machine. smack was even magazine because america was game over his and. he states of excess day it says here steak seven made in germany a specific reference to germany to. this online casino is based on the isle of man. you can log on quickly and easily and start playing poker roulette or slot machines is easy to make payments to through german banks. and unconditionally and ok let's try this. kid these days and get a few there but not enough. as it starts with a small bag or you lose your whole stake. in school does good thing i didn't bet more is i've already lost ten euros. if that i thought i'd win something. he didn't say i want two year olds fifty. on lying gambling via a casino on the isle of man is illegal. but i don't expect the german authorities to come knock

appleby helps make it all possible. the boeing seven thirty seven is approaching the ninety million dollar private jet belongs to a billionaire only the pilot and a small crew are on board they've got a brief meeting with the customs authorities we can guess its purpose. the private jet center turns to a very will heal the clientele. its employees tell us that many private jets are registered on the isle of man. the island serves as a gateway to the e.u. with a twist. private jets imported through the island aren't subject to european b a t taxes. it's a scheme that enables the owners to save millions so many am planes. imported to europe and pointed by at all from that how does this come and that's it's the eighty weights. and i don't know how they compare with with all the facilities around europe and bits preferentially deck of command the premise that accounts yeah the fee it's human rights you know so. you can save a lot of tax if you do it by a lovely example you know. what the value of an aircraft a large aircraf

because appleby don't know that we have their d'etat. —— data. we have been working on the documents for the past year. this march we were invited to a secret meeting in munich. we don't talk about what we are doing. the documents were leaked to the german newspaper. we don't talk to our friends or families or oui’ talk to our friends or families or our colleagues. they are sharing the documents with the international consortium of investigative journalist. in the uk that is panorama and the guardian. the more journalists are looking at the information, the more stories that emerge. it will be very interesting to the public because this is the kind of information that never out before. —— that has never come out before. —— that has never come out before. the leak has been called the paradise papers. secret contracts, agreements and deals that were never supposed to be seen. over the next two nights, panorama will show you the hidden stories. the paradise papers contain some of the biggest names in britain. some at the very heart of the

to appleby and its clients. these are the first names from the paradise papers but there are more to come from this extraordinary leak. our economics correspondent andy verity is here. a lot of documents, focused on individuals and organisations, what do you focus on? the biggest in terms of its impact is clearly what we found out about the queen and her private money and where it has gone. to put it in perspective, the money is organised through the duchy of lancaster. she is the duke of lancaster. she is the duke of lancaster but she does not have oversight over day—to—day decisions. we are talking about hundreds of millions of pounds, tens of millions which went to offshore funds, one in the cayman islands and one in bermuda —— £10 million. one went into a venture called project bertie, invested into two retailers, such as freshers, which went bust, owing money to the taxpayer, and the other was brighthouse, which was controversial as they were said to be charging inflated rates to the poorest in the

so, what about appleby, the company that oversaw lord ashcroft‘s trust? they say appleby does not specialise in tax and would play no role in advising on the tax advantages or disadvantages of any particular structure. these are confidential and commercially sensitive documents relating to appleby and its clients. it isn't just the british establishment. the paradise papers also reveal new details about america's biggest political scandal. this president conspired with the russian government to steal an election. siam and it was all fake news. i will tell you right now, zero. i had nothing to do with russia. we discovered that a senior member of trump's cabinet has been quietly trading with the russians. you know who that is, right? he is a billionaire called wilbur ross. they became close after donald trump bought a casino in atlantic city. donald trump gave michaeljackson a personal tour of his $1.2 billion extravaganza. the deal pushed trump to the brink of bankruptcy. wilbur ross stepped in to save him. wilbur ross stepped in to save him. wilbur ross

appleby helps make it all possible. a boeing seven thirty seven is approaching the nineteen million dollar private jet belongs to a billionaire only the pilot and a small crew are on board they've got a brief meeting with the customs authorities we can guess its purpose. the private jet center tends to have very well heeled clientele. its employees tell us that many private jets are registered on the isle of man. the island serves as a gateway to the e.u. with a twist. private jets imported through the island aren't subject to european b a t taxes. it's a scheme that enables the owners to save millions so many am planes. imported to europe and part of why i have often how does this come and it's it's the eighty weights. and i don't know how they compare with other facilities around europe and brits preferential that they have them if it through means but it accounts yeah the fee it's given us yeah so. you can save a lot of tax if you do it by a of an example you know. like a value of an aircraft or large aircraft that i

to appleby and its clients. these are the first names from the paradise papers but there are more to come from this extraordinary leak. so what are offshore investment funds — and why are they so controversial? well our economics editor kamal ahmed now explains for centuries, britain has been a centre for global finance, focused here, on the city of london. that is seen here, on the city of london. that is seen as many here, on the city of london. that is seen as many by being good for our economy and the development of global trade. to support that we allowed companies to set up in the uk and not be taxed here. our imperial past is also important. crown dependencies overseas territories, places likejersey and guernsey and the isle of man, which have an arm's length relationship with us and have based their economy on the low tax offers to companies and individuals, to hold some of their wealth there. others are more far—flung, places like gibraltar, as well as bermuda, the british virgin islands, the cayman

so what about appleby, the company that oversaw lord ashcroft‘s trusts? they say "appleby does not specialise in tax and would play no role in advising the tax advantages or disadvantages of any particular structure." "these are confidential and commercially sensitive documents relating to appleby and its clients. " it isn'tjust the british establishment. the paradise papers also reveal new details about america's biggest political scandal. mr president, did you conspire with agents of the russian government to steal the election? you can talk all you want about russia, which was all a, you know, fake news... i will tell you right now, zero — i have nothing to do with russia. we have discovered that a senior member of trump's cabinet has been quietly trading with the russians. he's a billionaire called wilbur ross. they became close after donald trump bought a casino in atlantic city in the 80s. donald trump gave michaeljackson a personal tour of his $1.2 billion extravaganza. the deal pushed donald trump to the brink of bankruptcy. wilbur ross stepped

relating to appleby and its clients. these are the first names from the paradise papers but there are more to come from this extraordinary leak. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell says the revelations are embarrassing for the queen. the palace is being tightlipped, i think that would be a fair characterisation of its position at the moment. by contrast, a republican pressure group has been quick to say that there should be much greater transparency about all the queen's finances. and look, this is embarrassing for her. i think there is no question about that at all. it is the association with an area of investment activity that many people would regard as doubtful, and many people would feel that this particular investor should never have been taken into by her financial advisers, not least because her reputation over so many years and so successfully, has been based on always setting the best of examples. it is important to say that there is no question of tax avoidance in this instance. the duchy of lancaster is

relating to appleby and its clients. these are the first names from the paradise papers but there are more to come from this extraordinary leak. you are watching newsday on the bbc. live from london in singapore. coming up: fiji faces up to the united states and donald trump's promise to bring back coal. also on the programme: ivanka trump has been accompanying her father in japan as he continues his asia tour. but what impression is the first daughter having on japanese women? the israeli prime minister, yitzhak rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested, and an extremistjewish organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths throughout the country, they voted on a historic day for australia. as the results came in, it was clear — the monarchy would survive. of the american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound, and student leaders have threatened that, should the america

one of the world‘s biggest offshore companies, appleby, is based here. seven million documents have been leaked. for months, we had to carry out secret research. (whispering) that‘s the head office. we have to be very careful at this stage of the investigation. because appleby don‘t know that we have their data. but now we can report what goes on here. the leak is known as the paradise papers. it contains some of the biggest names in britain. like the queen‘s private estate. the queen‘s investments are handled by the duchy of lancaster. now, because of the files, we can see exactly where some of the money was going. £10 million was invested in tax havens with $7.5 million in one fund in the cayman islands. it is perfectly legal and there is no suggestion tax was being avoided but should the monarch‘s cash be going offshore? if the money has been invested in a tax haven, i would have thought it would be extremely embarrassing for the queen and the royal family. we expect higher standards of the queen in terms of where the investments are locate

one of the world's biggest offshore companies, appleby, is based here. seven million documents have been leaked. for months, we had to carry out secret research. (whispering) that's the head office. we have to be very careful at this stage of the investigation because appleby don't know that we have their data. but now we can report what goes on here. the leak is known as the paradise papers. it contains some of the biggest names in britain. like the queen's private estate. the queen's investments are handled by the duchy of lancaster. now, because of the files, we can see exactly where some of the money was going. £10 million was invested in tax havens with $7.5 million in one fund in the cayman islands. it is perfectly legal and there is no suggestion tax was being avoided but should the monarch‘s cash be going offshore? if the money has been invested in a tax haven, i would have thought it would be extremely embarrassing for the queen and the royal family. we expect higher standards of the queen in terms of where the investments are located. the du

sensitive documents relating to appleby and its clients. these are the first names from the paradise papers but there are more to come from this extraordinary leak. our royal correspondent nicholas witchell says the revelations are embarrassing for the queen. the palace is being tightlipped, i think that would be a fair characterisation of its position at the moment. by contrast, a republican pressure group has been quick to say that there should be much greater transparency about all the queen‘s finances. and look, this is embarrassing for her. i think there is no question about that at all. it is the association with an area of investment activity that many people would regard as doubtful, and many people would feel that this particular investor should never have been taken into by her financial advisers, not least because her reputation over so many years and so successfully, has been based on always setting the best of examples. it is important to say that there is no question of tax avoidance in this instance. the duchy of lancaster

one of the world's biggest offshore companies, appleby, is based here. seven million documents have been leaked. for months, we had to carry out secret research. that's the head office. out secret research. we have to be very careful at this stage of the investigation. appleby don't know that we have their data. but now we can report what goes on here. the leak is known as the paradise papers. it contains some of the biggest names in britain. like the queen's private estate. the biggest names in britain. the queen's investments are handled by the duchy of lancaster. now, because of the files, we can see where some of the money was going. we can see where some £10 million was invested in tax havens, with $7.5 million in one fund in the cayman islands. havens, with $7.5 million in one it is perfectly legal and there is no suggestion tax was being avoided but should the monarch's cash be going offshore? should the monarch's if the money has been invested in a tax haven, i would have thought it would be extremely embarrassing for the queen and the royal fam

basing yourfishing officers of the law forum appleby. basing your fishing management company here means it can enjoy the ultralow tax rate of 3%. company here means it can enjoy the ultralow tax rate of 396. here we have the original text written between the media and mauritius... this is because of the problems. an agreement that allows companies to shift profit to mauritius. numidia, like most developing countries, has many such agreements but they have had enough. as far as we are concerned, there are loopholes we need to close. it was signed in 1995 and over time new development... people find ways of exploiting this? exactly. for regular citizens, patiently queueing to file their tax returns, there is no choice but to pgy- returns, there is no choice but to pay. but the finance minister told me that tax agreements mean that for many of the multinationals that operate here, paying tax has become a matter of choice. many of them are bad agreements. they should just be torn off and re— negotiated. because it is absolutely an cannonba

appleby has customers in almost all the tax havens. that's where low or zero taxes are found and companies only need a post box and a skilled accountant or skilled accountants to hide their money. by shifting billions of dollars in money offshore, the wealthy is avoiding paying taxes. the richer are getting richer, the poor remains poor. they control 1% over half the planet's total wealth. 8% of the world has the same wealth as the bottom half of the world population. it's the megarich who can use money and power to exert wealth and hire experts to continue to keep their money safe. for more on this, spencer whitman is a reporter, and he joins me now. mr. whitman, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> there is no implicit statement here by what somebody is doing by sending their money offshore is necessarily illegal, is that correct? >> that's correct. that's one of the biggest things our investigation raises is that much of what happens offshore, much of the shifting of profits and income to these tax havens is perfect

relating to appleby and its clients. these are the first names from the paradise papers but there are more to come from this extraordinary leak. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell says the revelations are embarassing for the queen. the palace is being tightlipped, i think that would be characterisation. like contrasts a republican pressure group has been quick to say there should be greater transparency about the queen abbas finances. this has been embarrassing for her. an area of investment activity many people regard as doubt will and many people would feel this particular investor should have never been taken into by her financial advisers not least because of reputation has been based on a lwa ys of reputation has been based on always setting the best of examples. it is important to say that the reason no question of tax avoidance in this instance. the duchy of lancaster is exempt from uk tax. the queen pays voluntarily takes on her income which last year amounted to £90 million. but it is unquestionably emba

we have been contacted by thejersey —based appleby office, in accordance with this data breach and fair. assess m e nt this data breach and fair. assessment is ongoing to whether any locally related offences have been committed. two very brief statements. there will be more detail, but people on both sides of the debate as to what tax avoidance schemes are appropriate or epochal, thatis schemes are appropriate or epochal, that is continuing. people are still digesting. we will hear more from the jersey authorities and the finance industry in the coming hours. political party leaders have agreed to launch a new grievance procedure for party star. it comes as there are allegations about mps and their behaviour. i'm joined now by leila nathoo who is in the central lobby of parliament. what do we know about the meeting? then meeting seems to have just broken up. it went on for about an hour or so. all party leaders across westminster got together to discuss theissue westminster got together to discuss the issue dominating westminster for recent weeks. there seems to have been agreement reac

documents relating to appleby and its clients. these are the first names from the paradise papers but there are more to come from this extraordinary leak. the us president is continuing his marathon tour of asia. president trump started the tour injapan and after meeting the japanese prime minister said the two countries had never been closer. speaking on the second day of his visit to japan, he said the united states have suffered at huge trade deficit with his hosts for many, many years. his comments come ahead of formal talks with the japanese prime minister shinzo abe. 0ur correspondent, steve mcdonell, is in tokyo for us. a warm welcome for the president but irra some key differences? absolutely. the message from donald trump here in tokyo today on day two of his 12 day two of asia is that trade relations between the us and japan are simply not fair. now, at a business breakfast each included executives from the japanese car companies maz, mitsubishi and the like, he said that cars was the big problem. —— mazda. he said t

the racing driver amongst dozens of clients helped by the firm appleby. they rented their own jets from themselves. the sun have the story about mrs brown's ploys it says. top comedy stars funnel £2 million into a tax dodge scheme. then timely, on the mirror, that the tax dodge parasites, lewis hamilton's 3. 3 million vat back on his jet. apple side steps billions with channel islands tax route and three stars of mrs brown's boys invested £2 million offshore. more on the paradise papers tomorrow. that's all we have time for. evan is here then. until then, good night. well, the weather has changed certainly in the last few hours. it has warmed up a little bit. we had beautiful weather across so many parts of the country during the course of the day. the clouds have started rolling in and this is bringing the warmer weather overnight. i say warm, warm relatively speaking to what we had. this weather front which will be in place across the uk tomorrow is going to bring some pretty damp, cloudy, unpleasant conditions. but it does mean the morning will be a

now, ironically, it's the leak of appleby files that is exposing the secretary's business dealings. why did secretary ross' stake in navigator never come up in his confirmation hearings? >> there were a lot of issues that seemed to be resolved because he said he had sold and divested so many companies. and navigator seemed to be among the companies that he divested. >> a lot of these holding companies are effectively impenetrable shells. did that raise alarm bells? >> i asked questions. i voted against him because he didn't answer those questions. >> do you think that you and your colleagues during the confirmation process did enough vetting? >> we could have done more vetting. if we had more time, if the committee had probed more deeply. with more resources. and if we had not been in effect misled. >> what this ross story tells us is that our disclosures are not adequate. he complied with the law. that tells us something about the law. the law is inadequate. >> we asked secretary ross to discuss these issues with us, but he did not return our calls. his office released a statement

it is from inside appleby, a law firm with offices in every major tax haven. more than 13 million appleby documents were on taped by the german newspaper whose shared them with the international consortium of investigative journalist, it has been co—ordinating a global investigation which includes bbc panorama, the guardian, and involves more than 350 journalists in 100 country, these are documents that should never have seen are documents that should never have seen the light of day. every person who pays taxes should care about what we are seeing here. we are looking at a firm called appleby and they are part of what they call the magic circle of offshore law firm, the elite of the elite. and there are some big names. lewis hamilton's tax dodge on his private jet. cast members of mrs brown's boys tax avoidance scheme. you can't dismiss this has a few bad quy: you can't dismiss this has a few bad guy, this is a whole system used by the most powerful and the wealthiest, the biggest corporations exposed. bbc scotland's investigation's team is the only scottis

they came from appleby originally, which is this law firm which has offices in these various tax havens. it came into the possession of suddeutsche zeitung, a german newspaper. they then collaborated with the icij, the international consortium of investigativejournalists, and bbc panorama is one of the partners among 100 partners in that consortium. but we don't know how the leak happened. are you comfortable with that? some viewers feel it is unethical for the bbc to publish them. we are. we have taken the decision that there is a public interest, but it takes us back to the point i'm making, which is that we haven't simply published what is in those documents, we have gone through a lengthyjournalistic, editorial and legal process including right to reply by the people concerned, to establish that we think there is a public interest above and beyond simply the fact that people appear in these papers. is there a risk to the bbc‘s values if it partners in this way in future, do you think? i don't. we didn't subcontract our editorial judgments to the icu. they have done an outstanding

appleby is a legal firm that sells offshore

appleby has warned all its clients the information may become public. it also issued a statement that said these documents were obtained illegally and the release may result in exposing innocent parties to data protection breaches. the firm also said that it is, quote, satisfied that there is no wrong doing on the part of ourselves or our clients. appleb appleby said it would cooperate with any investigation into what the leak reveals. it's hard to imagine it won't trigger a bunch of investigations that come from this pile of documents. we've all been talking about russia's influence through social media platforms, like facebook and twitter. they reveal evidence of a russian stake in ownership of those companies going back to their early days. at the heart of the story is a russian born tech investor, a ventu venture kapial list billionaire, turns out that some of the money that he was investing, came from two sources a subsidiary of russia's largest state run corporation and the state run bank, both controlled by the kremlin. there are more to this sto

documents obtained from the law form appleby based in bermuda show that when ireland shot that a scheme down, the company went shopping for a new way to keep their tax bills low. a questionnaire was sent to appleby‘s offices in seven tax havens, all british, including questions that made their intention clear. can you confirm that an irish company, meaning apple subsidiary, can conduct management activities without being subject to taxation in yourjurisdiction? after this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped forjersey and in company accounts published since, show there's been no discernible increase in the rate of tax paid worldwide. now, let's be clear, apple has done nothing illegal but hundreds of billions of dollars remain entangled in a web of low tax jurisdictions, seemingly beyond the reach of any government. the tax equivalent of outer space. and, as these documents show, this is a system that has continually elufed international attempts to reform it. —— continually eluded international attempts to reform it. the boss of the international organisation trying to fix this

where the law firm at the heart of the biggest leak in offshore history, appleby, has its head office. the queen is the head of state here but until now we did not know that some of her private money was invested in tax havens like this one. the duchy of lancaster, the private investment vehicle for the queen, put £10 million, a small fraction of its overall investments, in offshore funds with $7.5 million of that in one fund in the cayman islands. in 2007, it was asked to put £350,000 into investment projects including the purchase of two retailers. one was the company that owned threshers that later went bust owning £70 million in tax, and the other was brighthouse, the controversial rent—to—own retailer which was recently forced to compensate a quarter of a million customers. i am pretty furious with those who advise her and that are bringing her reputation into disrepute. it is so obvious that if you are looking after the money of the monarchy, you have got to be cleaner than clean and you must never go near the dirty world of money laundering, tax avoidance, tax evasion or

appleby, as you may have seen in the news, suffered a huge data leak of highly sensitive information, revealed this week. the leak was obtained by the german newspaper suddeutsche zeitung, who shared it with the international consortium of investigative journalists. the bbc has been researching it, along with the guardian newspaper. for the last nine months, we've been putting together information from the leak with publicly available sources, and talking to insiders. as a result, we have managed to piece together much of what's going on inside the management of the sovereign wealth funds money. the first thing to look at is the management fees, which quantum global was paid for managing the seven mauritius—based funds. between 2% and 2.5% of the $3 billion every year. injust 20 months, the company was paid $92 million. over this time, most of that money was not invested, but sat in bank accounts. at the end of 2015, qgiam had invested just $407 million of the $7 billion. at the end of 2016, that figure had gone up to $433 million. in other words, during 2016, an additional $26 mill

documents obtained from the law firm appleby based in bermuda showed that when ireland shut the scheme down, the company went shopping for a new way to keep the tax bills low. a questionnaire was sent to the offices of appleby in seven tax havens, all british, including questions that may the intention clear. can you confirm an irish company can conduct management activities without being subject to taxation in yourjurisdiction? after this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped for jersey this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped forjersey and company accou nts plumped forjersey and company accounts published since its show there has been no discernible increase in the rate of tax paid worldwide. apple has done nothing illegal, but hundreds of billions of dollars remain entangled in a web of low tax jurisdictions seemingly beyond the reach of any government. the tax equivalent of outer space. as the documents show, it is a system that has continually eluded international attempts to reform it. the boss of the international organisation trying to fix this problem admits it is a work in

documents obtained from the law form appleby based in bermuda show that when ireland shot that a scheme down, the company went shopping for a new way to keep their tax bills low. a questionnaire was sent to appleby‘s offices in seven tax havens, all british, including questions that made their intention clear. can you confirm that an irish company, meaning apple subsidiary, can conduct management activities without being subject to taxation in yourjurisdiction? after this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped forjersey and in company accounts published since, show there's been no discernible increase in the rate of tax paid worldwide. now, let's be clear, apple has done nothing illegal but hundreds of billions of dollars remain entangled in a web of low tax jurisdictions, seemingly beyond the reach of any government. the tax equivalent of outer space. and, as these documents show, this is a system that has continually elufed international attempts to reform it. the boss of the international organisation trying to fix this problem at that it's a work in progress. changing the rules tha

documents obtained from the law firm appleby, based in bermuda, show that when ireland shot that scheme down, the company went shopping for a new way to keep their tax bills low. a questionnaire was sent to appleby‘s offices in seven tax havens, all british, including questions that made their intention clear. "can you confirm that an irish company," meaning apple subsidiary, "can conduct management activities without being subject to taxation in yourjurisdiction?" after this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped forjersey, and company accounts published since show there's been no discernible increase in the rate of tax paid worldwide. now, let's be clear, apple has done nothing illegal but hundreds of billions of dollars remain tangled in a web of low—tax jurisdictions, seemingly beyond the reach of any government. the tax equivalent of outer space. and, as these documents show, this is a system that has continually eluded international attempts to reform it. the boss of the international organisation trying to fix this problem at that it's a work in progress. changing the rules th

documents obtained from the law form appleby based in bermuda show that when ireland shot that a scheme down, the company went shopping for a new way to keep their tax bills low. a questionnaire was sent to appleby‘s offices in seven tax havens, all british, including questions that made their intention clear. can you confirm that an irish company, meaning apple subsidiary, can conduct management activities without being subject to taxation in yourjurisdiction? after this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped forjersey and in company accounts published since, show there's been no discernible increase in the rate of tax paid worldwide. now, let's be clear, apple has done nothing illegal but hundreds of billions of dollars remain entangled in a web of low tax jurisdictions, seemingly beyond the reach of any government. the tax equivalent of outer space. and, as these documents show, this is a system that has continually eluded international attempts to reform it. the boss of the international organisation trying to fix this problem admits it's a work in progress. changing the rules that

documents obtained from the law form appleby based in bermuda show that when ireland shot that a scheme down, the company went shopping for a new way to keep their tax bills low. a questionnaire was sent to appleby‘s offices in seven tax havens, all british, including questions that made their intention clear. "can you confirm that an irish company," meaning apple subsidiary, "can conduct management activities without being subject to taxation in yourjurisdiction?" after this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped forjersey, and company accounts published since show there's been no discernible increase in the rate of tax paid worldwide. now, let's be clear, apple has done nothing illegal but hundreds of billions of dollars remain tangled in a web of low tax jurisdictions, seemingly beyond the reach of any government. the tax equivalent of outer space. and, as these documents show, this is a system that has continually eluded international attempts to reform it. the boss of the international organisation trying to fix this problem at that it's a work in progress. changing the rules that

documents obtained from the law form appleby based in bermuda show that when ireland shut that scheme down, the company went shopping for a new way to keep their tax bills low. a questionnaire was sent to appleby‘s offices in seven tax havens, all british, including questions that made their intention clear. can you confirm that an irish company, meaning an apple subsidiary, can conduct management activities without being subject to taxation in yourjurisdiction? after this offshore beauty parade, apple plumped forjersey and company accounts published since, show there's been no discernible increase in the rate of tax paid worldwide. now, let's be clear, apple has done nothing illegal but hundreds of billions of dollars remain entangled in a web of low tax jurisdictions, seemingly beyond the reach of any government. the tax equivalent of outer space. and, as these documents show, this is a system that has continually eluded international attempts to reform it. the boss of the international organisation trying to fix this problem admits it's a work in progress. changing the rules that

this appleby company the front page of the time say it is a picture of madonna, bono, and the queen of england. elby are legal and accounting services firm. they have tax havens all around the world. they basically get paid by corporations and wealthy people to find the most tax efficient, as they say, areas to put their money. the people who do this range from the royal family in the madonnacelebrities like to corporations like apple. all of them paying very expensive lawyers and advisers to find the new tax loophole, essentially, around the world for them to park their funds. apple, one of the most popular ubiquitous copies of our time am a parking tens of billions of dollars offshore rather than bringing it into the u.s. and paying taxes on it. they are a u.s. organization. they have employees using public services in california. they are an american corporation and yet they decide that they're going to park all of this money offshore. juan: appleby, a company from which many of these documents come, has insisted it has reviewed the allegations and is comfortable there's nothing ill

the biggest documents of offshore secrets. 13 million document mostly from an offshore firm called appleby. they reveal the tax affairs of rich and powerful people around the world. they have been obtained by a german newspaper and shared with international consortium of journalists including the bbc‘s panorama programme. they show how the queen's private estate invested around £10 million offshore. it is important to say that tax avoidance is not illegal at it is controversial and these latest revelations are bound to fuel the political debate around offshore tax havens and whether governments should do more to clamp down on them. what are they and why they so controversial? 0ur economic editor explains. for centuries, britain has been a centre for global finance. focused here on the city of london. that is seen by many as good for our economy and the development of global trade. to support that, we allow the companies to set up in the uk and not be taxed here. our imperial past is also important. across the world what are called crown dependencies like overseas territories, places lik